About guns, coffee, and all the other stuff I feel like talking about.

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Saturday, December 31, 2011

I've gotta work overnight, so it's not really hitting me as anything special aside from meaning I'll go through twice as many checks as normal the next couple months from writing the wrong date down...

Thankfully MandaFern rocks and decided to knock out a sweet sweet dinner for me before I head out for the night.

Since it's Wisconsin, cold and snow doesn't mean jack-

She managed to grab some giant freakin' shrimp at a seafood sale at the supermarket yesterday (along with scallops and steak)... and I mean GIANT shrimp-

Friday, December 30, 2011

A few months back Nate from UBG Holsters asked if I was interested in reviewing some of his work. With Concealed Carry right around the corner here in Wisconsin, I was definitely in the market for some IWB holster options and jumped at the chance to try out some good leather while I was at it.

I settled on the Canute model for my M&P9, and Nate sent one out to me a couple weeks later. As a note here, I stressed that I was in no rush, as it would still be at a few months or so until I could actually carry it outside of the house. Despite this, he still had it put together and in my hands a couple weeks later. Having sat through a half-year wait for a Raven Concealment Systems rig a couple times, getting a hand built leather holster in a fraction of the time was a welcome treat.

The Canute is a typical IWB holster, featuring a full body shield and widely spaced belt loops with “pull the dot” style snaps, allowing the user to put the holster on or take it off without removing their belt; a welcome feature for those of us that must enter “posted property” on a daily basis. The Canute also has a 22-25 degree forward cant, something I’ve come to appreciate for added concealment and a smoother draw when wearing the holster in the 4-5 o’clock position.

The model I chose is a plain, no frills black leather holster (other colors and even exotic skins are available) with no reinforcement around the mouth. The leather is nicely finished and thick, and overall construction is top-notch. The holster is molded to your specific gun, and my M&P9 fit well right out of the box (a little tight at first, as is expected with leather, but it loosened up quickly. Instructions for break-in are also on their website.) Retention is still positive after a month of use, never has it felt like my gun was moving or about to fall out of the holster.

As mentioned, the back features a full sweat guard/body shield to protect both the gun’s finish and your body from any pokey bits or sharp edges on your gun.

The only issue I’ve found so far with the full size body shield is that my thumb-safety occasionally snags on the top edge. The safety does remain engaged, but it is something to be mindful of when reholstering.

As you can see, the holster is holding up well after a month of almost daily use, including snapping and unsnapping the loops a couple times a day on average. Granted early winter in Wisconsin isn’t going to be severely torturous compared to summer on a big sweaty guy like me, it’s still reassuring to see practically no finish wear on the outside of the leather, and only a small amount of wear inside where a reference spot of grip-tape on the frame of my gun rubs during the draw (eventually I’ll most likely pull the grip-tape and stipple that spot though, and I think that will reduce the amount of wear it has on holsters.)

The belt loops are probably my favorite feature of the Canute, both due to their spacing, and the ability to remove the holster without undoing my belt. Even with a full size duty pistol with 17 rounds of ammo in the mag, the loops spread the weight out well, and help spread the bulk of the rig out along the beltline, aiding in concealment.

Obviously, how well the holster conceals is very important with an IWB holster, and the Canute does so wonderfully. I don’t know of many other holsters I’d be confident in trusting to hide a large gun under as little as a t-shirt, but the Canute excels in that department.

I wore a similar outfit at my family’s Thanksgiving day gathering (button-up cotton shirt instead of the T) and either no one noticed, or if they did they didn’t say. A few days later I was talking to my dad about good concealment clothing, and asked if he remembered the shirt I was wearing that day;

“No, but I don’t regularly check out your wardrobe…”

“Well did you notice the gun I was wearing all day either?”

“…No.”

I figure if a house full of people familiar with you don’t notice it after a full day, it’s got to be good to go.

If you like what you see, UBG Holsters is offering free shipping with coupon code "gunsncoffee"

Fine print! UBG did provide the holster in this review for a reduced price. Does that change my opinion? Hell no. This holster's good shit.

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Whenever you guys click an Amazon link on here, and buy something, I get a cut of the profits. True to past experience, December is usually my big sales month, and this year is no exception.

This is awesome, and I thank you guys immensely. I found out recently that I've been selected for a one-year deployment starting next summer, and despite my strong preference towards printed books, I think it'll be better to break down and pick up a Kindle Touch in the not-so-distant future and load it up with books, rather than ending up shipping a footlocker full of paperbacks around the world. So far you guys have ordered enough stuff to cover a little over half the cost in kick-backs from Amazon.

(Don't worry Larry, I'll still be getting hard-copies of all your future books. I've got an autographed copy of everything so far, would hate to have an incomplete collection!)

A couple weeks ago MandaFern took her CCW course (provided free through Wisconsin Carry, Inc.) and I tagged along, both for morale support, and because (generally) any training is good training and I treasure gathering viewpoints and training techniques from any source I can.

At a few points throughout the course, the instructor (an avid 1911 fan) voiced his negative feelings towards people carrying wonder-nines with super-high capacity magazines. One of my typical carry guns is my M&P9, fully stoked with 17 rounds in the mag, and a spare 17 round magazine on my support side. Amanda knows this and nudged me a little when he mentioned it the first time.

I grabbed my pen from my pocket and scribbled down on her notes "'Coyotes' travel in packs" semi jokingly. While this is a valid point, my other standard carry piece as of late has been my Smith & Wesson 442 J-frame revolver. Typically with a speed strip of five rounds in my watch-pocket of my jeans and a speed-loader in my coat pocket. That loadout has less rounds total than one magazine in my M&P.

Do I feel undergunned carrying that few rounds? No, not really. Despite my coyote comment, we live in a small enough town that large gangs of thugs are not really a threat. .38spc+P is a proven round, and the most likely threat I'll ever face around here is an overzealous convenience store robber or the like. I don't ever see myself being sucked into a running gunfight through downtown Stevens Point.

So why carry 34 rounds of 9mm when I carry the M&P? Why not save some strain on my belt and leave the spare at home? I should be able to deal with any likely threat with 17 rounds, right?

Simple. The biggest Achilles's Heal of any semi-auto weapon system is the magazine. Add to that the fact that just about any malfunction drill on a semi-auto pistol involves stripping the magazine out to relieve pressure on the action. If something goes south inside my gun, it's much easier to grab that spare mag, where I know it is, than look all over for the half a mag I tossed in the dirt while fixing my gun. And since I'm going to carry that second magazine, I may as well fill it up to capacity.

Well worth a read. One of the reasons I picked up a 20 gauge is knowledge similar to this quote-

When compared to a 12-gauge, the 20-gauge delivers 75% of the lead with a recoil that is 40-50% less. This is equivalent to the ballistic force of being hit with two .44 Magnum rounds simultaneously. In addition, the reduced recoil of the 20-gauge is conducive to accurate, rapid shots.

On September 18, 2010 five law abiding Wisconsin residents were peacefully
having dinner at a Culver's Restaurant in Madison, Wisconsin. These 5
individuals, who were legally openly carrying as provided by Wisconsin law had
finished their dinner and were preparing to leave the restaurant when they were
unlawfully detained by a mass of Madison police officers.

Despite the absence of reasonable suspicion or probable cause of any crime or
violation, Madison police illegally demanded identification from the men under
the threat of arrest if they did not comply. 2 individuals who chose not to
comply with the illegal action of the Madison police were subsequently arrested
and cited for obstruction. 2 days later those unlawfully issued citations were
rescinded and all 5 men, even those who complied with the officers illegal
demands were issued citations for disorderly conduct.

On May 5th of 2011, the frivolous disorderly conduct charges against all 5 men
were dropped.

Wisconsin Carry, Inc. a non-profit corporation dedicated to protecting and
advancing the right of Wisconsinites to carry in the manner of their choosing,
open or concealed, filed a federal lawsuit against the City of Madison and the 5
Madison Police officers who participated in the unlawful detainment and
treatment of these 5 individuals. A copy of that lawsuit is available here:

http://www.wisconsincarry.org/pdf/Madison5/lawsuit.pdf

Today a judgment of $10,000 against the City of Madison and 5 Madison police
offers was agreed to by Wisconsin Carry, Inc. and our 5 co-plaintiffs. This
judgment will be entered into the record of the Federal District Court, Western
Wisconsin.

Wisconsin Carry will continue to employ and "all of the above" approach to advancing and protecting the right to carry in the manner of one's choosing in Wisconsin. Included in those methods are lawsuits, grass roots legislative activism, public education/awareness, free concealed weapon license training, and every other effective measure.

In less than six weeks, 56,000 people applied for a permit under Wisconsin's new concealed carry law and thousands more bought handguns, swamping the state agency handling the required background checks.

The applicants so far amount to about 1% of the state's population, and very few of them have been rejected for a permit. The number of state background checks for handgun purchases is also up more than 50% for the year - another sign of the large numbers of people taking advantage of the new concealed carry law.

Being an Operator who regularly operates in pretty cold weather (hey, it's in my Army job title... 12N-Heavy Equipment Operator) I'd say he makes some pretty good points. It's all about the right mindset, and good techniques. Buscuits and gravy make a fantastic pre-cold weather ops breakfast.

Also, the Nissan Thermos Backpacking Bottle tends to keep coffee drinkably warm for upwards of 6-8 hours in my experience, and it's leakproof. I just need to find a Molle pouch it fits in...

G&C contributor, range buddy, and all around cool guy Cro picked up an Egyptian Contract FN-49 and was kind enough to trust me with it for a week or so to take some photos.

It really is a gorgeous looking gun.

The FN-49 began life just prior to WWII, and the designer, Dieudonne Saive, fled to England when the Nazis invaded Belgium. Saive took the plans with him to prevent them from falling into the Germans' hands, and finished the project after Belgium was liberated and FN got back on its feet.

The rifle is a gas-operated semi-auto battle rifle, with a long operating rod and the system is adjustable to compensate for varying loads. The rifle was originally chambered in 7x57 Mauser, and was eventually produced in 30-06, 7.65x53 Argentine, and 8mm Mauser (as pictured in this article.)

Take-down is pretty simple, and the rifle can be field stripped without the use of tools (a small screwdriver is required to remove the handguard as shown below.)
﻿

The fit and finish on this example are quite good, with some wear on the bluing present, however no rust or pitting that I noticed.

The safety is interesting, at least to Cro and myself, as it slides in a machined groove in the side of the trigger itself.

﻿

The magazine is a 10 round fixed box magazine, and the feed lips are machined into the receiver rather than the magazine.

This being an Egyptian Contract rifle, many of the markings are in Arabic, including the serial number and range markings on the rear sight assembly.

On the range, the rifle handles well. It balances where a rifle should, and looks good doing it.

Recoil is not as bad as I'd expected, no doubt due to the long operating rod and the system being adjusted for the particular ammunition we were shooting (Romanian surplus.) It was a bit hazy out, and the smoke was lingering.

I fired a few groups from the bench to get a feel for accuracy...

...but we quickly realized we needed to back off to 50 yards to figure out where the rounds were going. After moving to the shorter range, we found the rifle to be shooting about a foot low at 50 yards on it's lowest setting, and a bit left. We adjusted a little for windage, and brought the rear up a few notches and moved back over to 100.

﻿

﻿ Not the prettiest group, and one still managed to slip between the two sheets, but pretty typical of what we were getting most of the day. I'm certain the gun is capable of much better groups if you had the right ammo, a better zero, and better range conditions. I think next time some warmup time on the 10/22 and a little less coffee (heresy!!!) may be in order.

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Some range time and coffee time with Cro this morning. Also finished off all the photo ops needed to take a good look at his Egyptian FN-49 (so if that interests you, should have that up towards the end of the week, a crapload of photos to edit...)

Also, RRA NM AR-15A4 is all sorts of sweet. And ringing steel at 100 yards with the M&P15-22, standing, offhand, is too much fun for my own good, even if I only hit the target 1/3rd of the time.

Follow that up with lots of gunny talk in the very hippie-vibbed coffee shop... hehee...

Saturday, December 10, 2011

When your SO catches you entirely off guard, and makes you all sorts of proud.

I worked overnight Thursday, and eventually stumbled out of bed and read a text from her "So I see Shelley says the M&P22 is good to go, so I think it might be a really good gun for me to get for my first one... it really makes sense being able to go from that to a bigger caliber one."

Awesome. Plus, it's a gun I've been wanting to get my hands on for a while as well.

Later on in the evening she was talking about being at a liquor store a few weeks back, and a shady individual walked in. Apparently I'm rubbing off on her, as she noted him right away, and cautiously put herself in a position for a quick egress in case things went ploin-shaped, while taking a good mental picture of the guy. Thankfully for all involved, the guy just turned out to be your typical asocial drunk that looks like he's about to hold up the joint no matter where he is. He got his stuff and left without issue. She said that the best part of it was that she never was scared, just aware (she even used the phrase "situational awareness!")

It's just amazing to watch what was once a shy and timid girl bloom into a self-reliant and empowered woman in the year or so that I've known her. I think she's definitely worth hanging on to.

Thursday, December 8, 2011

That's how my turn at the Krag sounded yesterday. We also discovered the primers Cro is using have enough push to get the bullet into the throat, but not stuck particularly hard, when the powder fails to ignite for unknown reasons (thankfully a tap on a cleaning rod popped it out easily enough, and the gun was back to shooting in less than a minute.)

Thankfully for Cro (the owner of the rifle) and myself (shooter of said rifle,) this was a "best case scenario" for a squib load. Last round in the mag, and had it not been, we doubt another one would have fed into the chamber (that's how far the bullet didn't go.) Also, although the Krag is a "soft" shooting rifle, the round in question had zero recoil, and with earplugs in, all I heard was the "CLACK" of the striker hitting the primer. So, wait a couple beats in case of a hang-fire, open the bolt... and no bullet in the cartridge? And unburned powder pushed all the way to the front of the case? Huh. "Hey Cro, I'm sorry, but I seem to have lodged a bullet in your barrel."

We're not too sure what the issue was, theory is some oil from lubing the case made its way inside and dampened the powder, preventing it from igniting. The more important lesson, however, is when something weird happens when you're shooting, stop and evaluate the problem. It could save your rifle and your face.

Friday, December 2, 2011

The previous titles have been great, and are responsible for the resurgence in "training tapes." While I don't plan on getting this one anytime soon (I just don't shoot this type of stuff enough) I wouldn't mind watching it a few times.